V. I could Never Go Vegan, Because…!
No effect on me
You grieve for your impotence
But not for your contribution to our extinctionxElegyx — “Solitary Resolution” (2016)
I don’t think nonvegans understand how grating it is to hear people’s excuses. I’m so tired of people putting us on some pedestal or grovelling about how they’re not strong enough for veganism. I just want you to consider that if you don’t want to go all-in because of your affinity for cheese or your mother’s cooking, then you can always go vegan aside from those cases.
It’s okay to not be all-or-nothing. Just because I am doesn’t mean it’s not okay for you to. Even eating red meat only a few days a week is much more sustainable for the environment. My anger is informed by how few people are willing to do even little concessions like that.
People seem to want to tie in their own personal issues as to why veganism as a whole is not viable, which is just asinine. Veganism admittedly has an optics problem with regards to class, but I think the idea that vegan diets are expensive only focus on products like Beyond Burgers or almondmilk ice cream. Tofu, in addition to being the backbone of the majority of vegan dishes, is incredibly cheap; I get mine in 4-packs for $7 at Costco. Produce is abundant as ever, and we all know how badly Americans need fiber and vegetables. Plenty of delicacies are accidentally vegan; I’m partial to Biscoff cookies and Oreos.
The only remotely reasonable excuse is because of someone’s personal health issues—to that, I say that the problem probably lies outside of veganism as a whole. If you have an eating disorder, I empathize greatly with you. My personal eating habits have improved tenfold, but I understand that these are very real barriers. All I would say is that it’s not impossible, and that a vegan diet would just have to be more regulated and structured if you want to pursue it. Even then, the above suggestion on reducing meat and dairy intakes is still true.
If you could never go vegan because you just like the taste of meat that much, I honestly respect you. It will always be more honest and direct than any other argument I’ve had lobbed against us. Enjoy it while you can, I hope you like cockroaches and rodents just as much. If you don’t, go vegan.
- If my descriptions of animal living conditions under factory farming distresses you, imagine how the animals must feel. ↩︎